Portal website definition

A portal website is a specific, interactive website that pulls together more specialised functionalities than a standard website might offer, such as file uploading capabilities and storage, collaborative working options for users, and a centralised place for sharing news updates. 

There is often an emphasis on users being able to enjoy a personalised experience in this online portal, with dedicated and usually branded spaces for each functionality the portal offers.

A web portal could have many different uses for different types of members, such as clients, students, or patients, and these portals make look very visually different even if they are provided by the same online portal supplier. 

At Clinked, we believe that what really makes a portal website definition is strong levels of customizability, giving your business and your users exactly what you need. Now that we’ve defined what a customer portal is, we can now explore what the experience can feel like for your users.

The portal website experience

As companies increasingly adapt to having a digital presence, a portal website becomes an extension of their business online. And just as you want to deliver a tailored service to each of your customers, Clinked believes this should extend to their website experience too. Here’s a further deep dive into what this looks like for your users, and the key factors that make up most portal websites.

Personalised experience

A portal website offers more than a standard website and separate file storage and communication tools individually and combines them in a smoother experience. The beauty of them is that you can tailor these to what you need, and so they can vary hugely from portal to portal. So whether you’re looking to work collaboratively with your team, track clients’ progress, or share documents with members quickly and efficiently, your portal can facilitate this.

Centralized access to what what you need

Another great defining feature of a portal is that it brings together whatever you decide is necessary for your business in one location. Hugely beneficial for working on projects where there is a large amount of files to access or a need to discuss with your teammates, a centralized portal to contain everything makes the job simpler and quicker. File storage and chat functions - two more key features of a portal website - combined together with items such as your calendars easily searchable in one place means less time spent searching across multiple platforms and equipping you with the best tools to just do your job.

Tailored accessibility

Different from a standard website, a portal gives you the option to provide logins only to who you want to access the site, giving you added security to your work. Portals will often offer a significant level of security, with specific encryption requirements, so you can access your files with peace of mind that your work is safe and secure.

As portals and their customizability can vary so much, here’s a great opportunity to show you how these features can be used in Clinked and what they look like.

Portal website example - Clinked.com

Clinked is a great portal website example - it has many of the defining features of a standard portal website as well as several features which make it really unique and stand out. We’ve taken the above mentioned features of portal website definition and extrapolated this with specific examples below on how Clinked offers this and goes above and beyond in its portal website delivery.

Customizable login

Not only does Clinked offer the space for your branding to be incorporated into your profile, it weaves your logos and naming conventions seamlessly throughout your portal. Your dedicated login space can be personalized with your company logo, colours and even a tailored url to match your current online presence.

This can also be further extended throughout Clinked’s portal website, with your colours and branding still visible on every webpage, and the option to change our standard names for areas such as ‘Files’ and ‘Tasks’ to whatever your business prefers.

Fast access to your items

The Clinked platform website is customizable to feature only what you need, giving you the option to remove some of our features that you may not want if these aren’t applicable to your business. This then gives you the speed of having all of your items in one place, but also only the things you want there as well, so no need to dig through extra pages or tabs on your site.

Member and guest access

Restricted access is a key feature of portal websites, and there are varying levels of accessibility you can choose with Clinked. Clinked offers the option not only to decide from the offset who has access to your portal website, but also down to a much more granular level in terms of allocating access to individual files and folders.

A portal platform offers much more than a standard website, particularly in terms of interactivity, customization, and productivity. And as products such as online cloud storage and top level security become essential, the fact that you can find these in a portal website service makes them indispensable to your business as it grows online.

While client portals can be hugely varied in their appearance, we hope that this portal website definition has been useful in your understanding of what they can offer. And with Clinked as a portal website example, we’d be delighted to offer you a free 10-day trial to see its benefits for yourself.